


high and dry

by kittebasu (chanyeol)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, tears are saltwater and cannot quench kise's thirst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-10
Updated: 2014-11-10
Packaged: 2018-02-24 19:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2593325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chanyeol/pseuds/kittebasu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So maybe, just maybe, Kise is a little <i>too</i> invested in what Kuroko is doing these days. Calling it a crush, though, in Kise’s opinion, is a bit much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	high and dry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hopperbot (hopper)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopper/gifts).



> im sorry, but not sorry enough

"It’s not stalking," Kise says, when Aomine shoots him an unimpressed look over the pages of a magazine entitled _'Busty Babes from Abroad Anthology 4'_. "It’s showing an interest in your friends."

Aomine grunts.

"Something you could stand to learn a thing or two about," Kise adds, taking a graceful sip of mineral water. "Since you spend more time perusing gravure coffee table books than paying attention to your buddies."

"I’m here, aren’t I?" Aomine slumps lower in his seat, which inadvertently raises the magazine higher. If Momoi were here, she’d have already smacked him six ways from Sunday for the offense of reading porn in public. "Listening to you babble on about how you’re not a creepy stalker." Aomine peeks over the top of his magazine. "Which, honestly, you are."

"Kurokocchi is my friend," Kise says. "I’m allowed to worry about him, especially now that we’re in college and everything is so much more dangerous." He drags the end out into a whine, and Aomine sighs heavily. 

"Kise," he says, finally closing the magazine, "all the time I spend with you trying to deny how jealous you are of Tetsu having new friends is time I could be napping or masturbating." He takes a gulp of soda. "Or napping and masturbating at the same time. Both things I like better than you. So if there’s a reason you called me out today, tell me now, or go away."

"You’re starting to sound like Midorimacchi," says Kise. "How cruel~" 

Aomine scratches the back of his neck as he makes a disgruntled noise. "Look," he says. "It’s probably better if you just tell Tetsu that you have a crush on him."

Kise sputters, spitting mineral water all over the table. A little gets on Aomine’s dirty magazine, and he frowns with honest displeasure. 

"I don’t—" Kise flounders, waving his hands in front of him defensively like he’s talking to Kasamatsu-senpai and not lazy as hell Aomine. "That’s ridiculous."

"Yeah," Aomine says. "I agree, because Tetsu's bustline is nothing to get excited about, but I guess you can’t help your taste."

"!" Kise tries to articulate that it’s not a _crush_ he has on Kuroko, but more of the sort of sparkling admiration one has for a former teammate that is talented. His tongue, though, seems to be tied up in knots.

Aomine grunts again. "Couldn’t you have called Satsuki about this?" He asks, running his thumb absently over the mineral-water wet cover. "Especially if you were gonna have a crisis about it, geez."

“I didn’t call you,” Kise says. “I sent you a short, succinct e-mail message a week ago that said I wanted to talk to you about that new girl Kurokocchi’s been hanging out with on Tuesdays and Thursdays--”

“Your desperation definitely called me,” says Aomine. “Like the bat signal.”

“I’m just concerned about Kurokocchi’s--”

“This is _boring_ ,” Aomine says, interrupting him. “Just tell him you wanna bang and get it over with.”

“I don’t--” 

Aomine picks up his magazine, and Kise knows the exact moment Aomine stops listening. “Whatever, Kise. You’re paying for my soda.”

Kise slams his head onto the table. Unfortunately, this does not render him unconscious.

㊌

So maybe, just maybe, Kise is a little _too_ invested in what Kuroko is doing these days. Calling it a crush, though, in Kise’s opinion, is a bit much.

It’s very possible that his heart beats faster when Kuroko gives him one of those faint, amused smiles, and that sometimes he wants to see Kuroko so much it leaves him nauseated and dizzy with anticipation.

It is also possible that sometimes, Kise wakes up in the morning and wonders what it would be like if Kuroko were lying next to him, eyes bright and focused, and--

Okay, so maybe it is a crush. 

Fuck.

Kise wanders into the kitchen of his small apartment and gets himself a glass of water, because he suddenly feels really, really thirsty.

㊌

"Those look so good on you," Momoi says, as Kise looks blankly at his foot. The red high-heel is at least 5cm too small, his toes curling over the edge in the front and his heel hanging over the back. "You have such nice legs, Kise-kun."

"Well," Kise says, allowing himself to preen slightly, "I _am_ a model."

Momoi laughs, picking up her own pair of teal-colored shoes and sitting next to Kise after handing them to the bewildered sales assistant to find her size. He gives Kise another dubious look before he goes to do her bidding. "So, Kise-kun, tell me _all_ about it."

"All about what?" Kise asks, chuckling nervously as he struggles to undo the ankle strap.

"Dai-chan had some interesting things to say when I dropped by to make sure he’d done some of his homework last night." She grins, and Kise takes a moment to appreciate how pretty she’s gotten. Well, she’s always been pretty, but adulthood looks good on her. Her hair is cut fashionably to her shoulders, and Kise thinks she’s as lovely as the girls he sees at photoshoots. "He says I’ve got myself a love rival."

"No he did _not_ ," Kise says, face going red as he turns all his attention to free his foot from the shoe. His fingers are too big to navigate the dainty buckle. "Momoi!"

"Actually," she says, laughing, "he said that you were probably pretending not to notice your boner to annoy him."

"I wasn’t _pretending_ ," Kise says, in a hushed whisper as two girls browsing through the boots section look over at them. Then he thinks about how incriminating that sounds. "And I don’t have a _boner_."

"Hopefully you don’t right this minute," Momoi says. "Because if you did, people are going to get some interesting ideas about what turns you on." She drops her gaze to the red shoe, and it would be easier if Kise could just drop dead right now. 

"And whose fault is that?" Kise hisses, freeing himself from the shoe. He carefully puts it back in the box. "This was your idea!"

"The fact that you were so very agreeable to the plan is not lost on me, Kise-kun," she mildly replies. "I think you enjoy our little shopping trips. You should get those."

"They’re not my size," Kise replies, closing the box with finality. Then he backtracks again. "And even if they were—"

"How many things are you going to deny today, Kise-kun?" Momoi sounds like she’s questioning the weather and not the very fabric of Kise’s sense of self. _Is it going to rain today, Kise-kun? Also, you should invest in a few key items for the recreational cross-dressing I **know** you do in your free time._

"Just because I showed you those pictures from when my sisters dressed me up as Card Captor Sakura for a convention in Shibuya when I was _twelve_ —"

The sales assistant comes back to give Momoi her shoes. She smiles at him, and he blushes, then peeks out of the corner of his eyes to investigate Kise again, like Kise’s a rabid animal and not a man trying on a pair of heels.

Kise offers him a winsome, flirtatious grin that has the man scrambling away again, and Momoi hits him in the arm. "Play nice."

"I always play nice," Kise whines. "Nobody else ever plays nice back."

"I’ll be nice," Momoi says. "It’s okay to like Tetsu-kun. He’s super dreamy." She pats his arm gently, right where she’d just socked him, so he winces. "But you should probably tell him, even if he already knows." She freezes, then brings a hand up to her mouth and covers it. "I wasn’t supposed to tell you that." It’s muffled by her hand.

"Kurokocchi… knows _what_?"

"Oops," Momoi says, slipping into the teal heels and sticking her foot out to admire how slim they make her calves look. "These are _so_ cute."

"They are," Kise says faintly, since it appears lightning will not strike him and put him out of his misery.

"Cheer up, Kise-kun," Momoi says, as she slides the heel off, returning it to the box. "It could be worse."

"How?" Kise asks, rubbing at his face in chagrin.

"You could have had a crush on Midorima-kun." The smile she gives him is downright devious, like she’s about to destroy him on the court. 

Kise shudders.

㊌

Kise does not call or text Kuroko for five days. He does not pop up where he knows Kuroko and Kagami will be playing streetball, or run into Kuroko at the mall, or any of the other weird habits he’s picked up over the course of the past year to keep tabs on his favorite Teiko teammate.

He spends the time he’d usually spend generally being in places where Kuroko is likely to be having a series of minor crises in his bathroom, wondering if he stays under the shower spray long enough he’ll wash away the embarrassment of the past week of his life. So far, he’s not having much luck, despite repeated attempts.

He only gets out of the shower when he hears a polite knock at his apartment door. He pulls on a T-shirt and shorts and rushes to the door, assuming it’s one of his sisters here to interrogate him about missing family dinner on Wednesday, but when he opens the door, it’s not one of Kise’s sisters. 

He should have known it wasn’t one of his sisters, Kise thinks distantly, as he takes in the sweaty Kuroko on his front step, because his sisters never knock without also yelling _Ryouta-chan~ _like he’s still seven, loud enough for the neighbors to hear and then complain about later in politely worded notes slipped under his door.__

__Kuroko’s flushed from the heat and his pale hair is curling around his cheeks, damp with sweat. He’s holding on to Nigou’s leash tightly in one hand, the dog peering up at him with an identical expression to his owner. Kise returns his gaze to Kuroko just in time to watch a bead of sweat pearl on his neck and then roll excruciatingly slow down the column of his neck before disappearing down the loose neck of his shirt._ _

__Kise is positively parched. "Kurokocchi~" He forces out through his suddenly dry throat. "Can I get you some water?"_ _

__He tries to play it cool as Kuroko and his dog follow him inside, Kuroko pausing to slip out of his shoes before following him into the kitchen. Nigou settles across the doorway, like he’s blocking Kise’s escape, and Kise chuckles nervously._ _

__"How did you know where I lived, Kurokocchi?" Kise asks, pouring two enormous glasses of cold water from the expensive bottled water in his fridge._ _

__"Momoi-san told me Kise-kun’s address," Kuroko replies, reaching out to take the glass. Their fingers brush, and Kise almost drops it, but Kuroko’s fast reflexes save it. Kise avoids Kuroko’s eyes as he picks up his own glass and drinks the entire contents. "Among other things."_ _

__‘Among other things’ sounds ominous, and he can feel Kuroko watching him._ _

__"So what brings you here?" Kise asks, setting the empty glass on the counter and then scratching his neck. He wish he could stop nervously giggling, but clearly that’s not about to happen, so instead he tries to relax his shoulders to make up for it. It’s just like being on a photoshoot, Kise tells himself. Only Kuroko’s heavy gaze is in far more danger of making Kise nervous than a demanding director._ _

__Because Kise’s got a _crush_. Right. He shivers. _ _

__"Kise-kun hasn’t been following me around this week," Kuroko says, and Kise squawks. Nigou tilts his head where he’s sitting in the doorway, all two meters of him, and Kuroko gives Kise one of those _smiles_ , the ones that have heat curling low in his belly._ _

__How did even _Aomine_ notice this before Kise? Kise should have known what this was. Should have known long before they’d all started drifting further apart in the ebb and flow of college life, and he’d started to see more of Kuroko from a distance than up close._ _

__Kuroko is still watching him, and when Kise finally turns to acknowledge it, Kuroko raises his glass to his lips and takes a long sip of his drink._ _

__Despite the glass of water he just gulped down, watching Kuroko drink, Adam’s apple bobbing, is making Kise’s dry tongue stick to the roof of his mouth like he’s in the desert._ _

__"I…" Kise says, helplessly, and Kuroko lowers his glass again. "Dksdffkfkgg."_ _

__"Although I initially found it unsettling," Kuroko says, as though Kise had given him an intelligible response, "I have become used to Kise-kun popping up in all sorts of places."_ _

__The grin again, only this time his lips are slick with ice-water. His skin is losing some of the redness from the summer heat outside, but his cheeks are still pink, almost like… Kuroko is… blushing?_ _

__Kise doesn’t know what that means. "Sorry?"_ _

__"If Kise-kun wants to spend time with me, I would be fine with something prearranged," Kuroko says, walking up to Kise to stand next to him, setting his half-full glass on the counter next to Kise’s empty one. "It does not have to be an… ‘accident’."_ _

"Oh," Kise says, and he’s about to clarify is Kuroko is telling him it’s all right to _ask him on a date_ when Kuroko sidles even closer, pushes onto his toes, and kisses the edge of Kise’s mouth lightly. " _Oh._ " 

__Kuroko’s eyes are faintly amused when he pulls back. "Only if Kise-kun would like, though," he says. "Otherwise, I’m sure that Momoi-san would be happy to accompany you on more shoe-shopping trips." Kuroko steps further away, Nigou standing up from the doorway of the kitchen to make space for Kuroko to pass._ _

__Kuroko pauses in the doorway, though, looking over his shoulder, when Kise calls out a faint "Kurokocchi?"_ _

__"Kise-kun is already very tall but…" He closes his eyes briefly, then opens them again, and Kise is startled to see the intensity in them that matches the way Kuroko looks during basketball games. "…If Kise-kun likes to wear high heels, I can’t say that I would dislike that."_ _

__He leaves Kise slack-jawed in the kitchen, at the edge of his very own oasis._ _

____

㊌

__Aomine looks disgusted as Kise crawls all over Kuroko in their booth at Magi Burger. From the edge of the table up, Kuroko is pretending like Kise isn’t there. It’s just like high school, only just under the table, Kuroko’s hand is on Kise’s thigh, weighing him down since he feels lighter than air._ _

__Kagami, on the other side of Kuroko, shoves hamburger after hamburger into his face despite the look of indigestion on his features._ _

__"It’s so sweet," Momoi says, as Midorima’s eyebrow twitches. "Kise-kun got his crush."_ _

__"Tetsu," Aomine says, as Momoi smiles besottedly at Kise and Kuroko from her spot in between a slowly eating Murasakibara and Midorima, "are you sure this is what you want?" He makes it sound like there’s something wrong with Kuroko, which Kise would find offensive if he cared about anything besides Kuroko’s fingers tracing patterns into his thigh through the fabric of his jeans._ _

__"I’m definitely a dog person," Kuroko replies, with that tiny amused grin of his, and Murasakibara snorts._ _

__"Gross," Murasakibara says, as Kise laughs loud enough to draw attention to their table from the other side of the room._ _

**Author's Note:**

> the title should actually be "high (heels) and (hella) dry (throat bc kise is so thirsty)"
> 
> ((the scene dividers are some water for poor kise but they're in the circle bc he can't drink it it's a metaphor))


End file.
